Topic: Firefox vs. Internet Explorer

firefox and internet explorer are both good but i perfer firefox

Firefox and Safari own Internet Explorer every day of the week.

That's the very definition of ignoring a decade of progress. Microsoft has made a concerted effort to hold back progress with their browser. (I know. I was there filing bugs during the IE7 process. Anything truly useful got ignored.) IE8 has a nicer shell, but it's still the same old pile of crap under the covers. Microsoft has finally made it pass ACID2 (YEARS after all the other browsers managed it) and has an absolutely horrific ACID3 score.

If you're using IE8, you're easily 10 years behind the curve. And many more websites will break anyway because Microsoft plays the "standards are important" card by including barely enough support to break things even worse than they were before.

Take the challenge. What happens when you point IE8 here:

http://www.wiicade.com/gameDetail.aspx?gameID=1317

Now pick ANY OTHER BROWSER released within the last 3-4 years. The older ones (e.g. Firefox 2) might be a bit slow, but they'll all run. What happens with IE8?

I wrote that code, so I know for a fact that there is no explicit check for IE in there. The only check is for the most basic features supported by all web browsers. In fact, I didn't even check for CANVAS support. I checked for DOM 2 Events. A standard that's over a decade old that Microsoft helped author!

Even more interesting is that Chris Wilson's name was on the draft recommendations for DOM 2 Events. He somehow disappeared as one of the maintainers as nearly the exact same document was finalized. Chris Wilson, BTW, is the guy in charge of Internet Explorer. He's the a**h**e (excuse my language, but I feel strongly about this) who says standards are important out of one side of his mouth while he instructs his programmers to either not support or corrupt the standards out the other side of his mouth.

Corruption? Did I just say that? Oh yes. After making a big stink about refusing to join the HTML5 working group, Microsoft reps pop up on the mailing list one day and start saying they'll implement a few minor features here and there, but that there's this big hole in the spec they're going to have to cover over with this propriety bull***t over here. To which the HTML5 committee just sits aghast. You see, those holes were caused by Microsoft only implementing parts of the standard (ignoring the parts that solved their dilemma) or not implementing underlying standards that had been in the W3C for a decade or longer!

So I know what I'm talking about when I say this: If you're using Internet Explorer, you're ignoring a decade or more of progress.

And that's just the honest truth. Sorry.

Edit: Censored my language. Sorry about the uncensored version. As you can probably tell, I feel VERY strongly about Microsoft's head-in-the-sand tactics. All so they can maintain monopolistic control. Shameful.

@thewiirocks: All that stuff sounds about par for the course with Microshift (remove the f).

I like Firefox, personally. The user interface is far more logical than IE, imo. Why get used to dumb crap when you have superior alternatives?

I've been using Opera for about 8 or 9 years and I am still loving it. Google Chrome takes second place for it's smooth look.

I tried FF, but it just isn't for me.

IE ruins the web. Stick to a browser that actually follows the standards instead of one that ignores them completely. thewiirocks is absolutely true.

With Chrome, I never end up saying "Not Enough Breast", thanks to the Incognito mode. Yay Chrome.

Used Firefox for years and I love it! So much customization, you can even make your surfing safer with some of the add-ons available. Could never go back to Internet Exploder/Exploiter, although I am aware the hackers are turning there attention to Mozilla now. Hence why I'm becoming a fan of SRWare Iron, a version of Chrome (nice, but bloated and nosy) which I am beginning to love (so so fast). I recommend it.

I personally use Firefox simply because of media converter and adblock. Other than lacking that though, I hardly see any problems with other browsers, except for Internet Exploder, of course. There are so many problems with it that I can't even begin to describe. Just read thewiirocks' posts.

I urge anyone who is still suffering to please switch to Firefox (or any other browser, for that matter).

I don't know why, but what seems to be getting lost is that I'm NOT arguing the superiority of one browser over another. thewiirocks' post is educational and informative - except for repeated but still failed allegation that I'm living in 1999. I'm simply stating that, from a productivity and resource usage standpoint, IE8 performs adequately for my requirements (and probably for a great many others' as well). Every moment I would spend, and every sector on disc I would use, and every script I would rewrite to perform my environment sync just so that I could use an alternative browser would bring me to 100% functionality, or, in other words, exactly where I ALREADY AM. Is it really that hard to grasp? And again, this is probably true for a great many people.

The very instant that IE8 doesn't do what I want or expect on a page that I wish to browse is the very instant that I download Firefox. 'Til then, I'll wallow in my very definition of "ignoring a decade of progress." Riiiiight.

I like IE because Firefox is too slow on my two computers.

Well then, you should download FireFox right now! In addition to AdBlock Plus. No more ads!

I use IE on vista.It works fine for what I need it for so I've never felt the need to try a different one.Much of what the wiirocks wrote didn't make any sense to me although I'm sure its all correct. I'm just a noob on a PC. Basically as long as I can use Ebay,amazon,NL etc and find free filth it'll do for me! The browser I don't like is the one on wii now that sucks.Why can't i watch videos is the Wii so underpowered? Do you think that will ever get an upgrade? or can you install a new browser somehow?

Download Chrome or Firefox, and I guarantee your browsing experience will be greatly improved. DO IT.

Jeez, what's wrong with you guys? Stop telling us IE folk to download Firefox and/or something else besides IE just because it works for you. I've tried Firefox for a few months and IE works just as well. The only time I've EVER had any problems viewing a particular site with IE is when I'm trying to watch movies on the internet. I've also NEVER had problems with popups. I just downloaded the Google toolbar and voila! IE is a perfectly viable solution for surfing the web. What could you possibly be doing that requires the king of all web browsers to suit your needs? Customisation? Who cares? I'm visiting websites, and writing on this forum before I take out the dogs. Stop telling people what to do because of a personal grudge against Microsoft.

OK i might give one of them a whirl, but what are the benifits for someone like me who only uses the most basic functions. Convince me and I'll try one.They are free right????

They are free, yes, and here's just a few benefits...
Less crashing,
Faster browsing,
Better, more functional interfaces,
Loads of room to see the web pages on Chrome without having useless toolbars in your way,
Browsing features that will allow you to check out free filth without other people seeing so in your browsing history,
The ability to see your most viewed websites, and search most sites such as ebay and amazon without even having to visit the site: just type in the address of the website, press tab if prompted and type in whatever you're looking for!

Try them. DO IT.

Right I'll try one and be the guinea pig for all my fellow IE users .Give us a week to try it out properly and I'll let you know what I think.By the way which one do you recommend first?

Luigi, it's cool and the gang that you're gonna try another browser, and I hope you like it. But regardless of how positive your experience as a volunteer guinea pig might be, I wouldn't expect others to follow suit. There are already plenty of members here that use Firefox and Chrome and love them. One more won't make a difference to those who are fine with IE.

Yeah I know.I'm just curious really cause some of my mates are always going on about these browsers too and I always think ,it's a @&%$ browser who cares. And I have the same suspicions as some of you that people just like to be different and hate on microsoft so lets find out.

@Luigi78: I hate on Microsoft because they've earned it through retarded business practices and software programming. I just took the challenge from thewiirocks, and he's right! The site doesn't run at all, saying that Internet Explorer does not support the web standards required by the game.

Besides that, I don't know how anybody puts up with the user interface on IE. It's just so...cluttered and needlessly difficult to navigate. Kind of like Windows.